Panel Passes 1.4 Percent Pay Raise
07/30/10 02:47 pm ET
A Senate panel on Thursday approved a bill granting civilian federal employees a 2011 pay raise of 1.4 percent. >>
TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT
07/30/10 02:47 pm ET
A Senate panel on Thursday approved a bill granting civilian federal employees a 2011 pay raise of 1.4 percent. >>
07/30/10 02:04 pm ET
Leading IT jobs website Dice has launched a new social networking site that connects IT job seekers with tech recruiters. The Dice Talent Network combines social networking tools with an online job board where employers and IT job professionals can connect directly. For example, employers can communicate via chat or instant message or post job announcements, and tech pros can set up complete social networking profiles and follow and target the companies they want to work for. >>
07/30/10 11:58 am ET
In following up to Thursday's post, Federal Times reports that Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry has no intention of cancelling the agency's centralized hiring registry program. Berry's comments come one day after an OPM official said that in the seven months since OPM launched its hiring register program -- part of which focuses on IT hiring -- agencies have only hired 71 of about 106,000 qualified job candidates from the registers.>>
07/29/10 11:41 am ET
The Office of Personnel Management is considering ending its centralized hiring register program due to a lack of interest among federal agencies. Federal Times reports that in the seven months since OPM launched its hiring register program, agencies have only hired 71 of about 106,000 qualified job candidates from the registers.>>
07/28/10 12:47 pm ET
When it comes to changing the culture at federal agencies to support more innovation, it appears as though federal managers could learn a lot from the example being set at the Veterans Affairs Department.>>
07/28/10 08:32 am ET
A Senate panel on Thursday passed legislation that would expand grants to students who pursue cybersecurity careers and create a public-private center for cybersecurity innovation.>>
07/27/10 11:36 am ET
The Air Force has authorized federal hiring managers to use a streamlined hiring authority to help speed the process of filling more than 680 cybersecurity jobs. The authority - known as Schedule A - allows jobseekers to be considered for cyber positions without being subject to standard qualification requirements and rating procedures.>>
07/27/10 01:34 pm ET
Several demographic groups remained underrepresented in the federal workforce in fiscal 2009, according to a new report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. >>
07/26/10 11:19 am ET
Business Insider and Glassdoor.com have teamed up to put together a list of the top 25 technology companies to work for. But even given the perks some companies offer, such as gourmet cafeterias, lax dress codes and state-of-the-art fitness facilities, many of the top companies are struggling with the same human resources challenges as the federal government: inadequate compensation, office politics, overbearing middle management and a lack of work-life balance. >>
07/23/10 01:11 pm ET
When it comes to recruiting and retaining entry-level IT employees, federal agencies often struggle with creating effective internship programs that get students in the door and keep them there. That's according to Tim McManus, vice president of education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, who is heading up an effort to help agencies recruit, hire and retain entry-level IT workers. >>
07/23/10 12:32 pm ET
It's no secret that the federal government is facing a serious shortage of cybersecurity professionals. A new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies highlights the seriousness of the issue, both in quality and quantity. >>
07/22/10 10:43 am ET
Federal agencies are falling short when it comes to selecting, training and supporting first-level supervisors, according to a new report. >>
07/22/10 08:33 am ET
A House panel on Wednesday passed legislation that would establish basic training standards for federal managers and supervisors. >>
07/21/10 12:40 pm ET
Allan Holmes on Monday wrote an excellent post on how the federal government is losing talented young workers because it simply reacts too slowly and does not seem open to new ideas. DMNews has an interesting interview with Pamela Evans, global digital marketing manager at IBM, about how IBM has been successful at recruiting, retaining and appealing to the younger generation. The effort to appeal to younger workers, Evans says, started 11 years ago, when IBM established a website exclusively for software developers. "We're not looking to push them to go places where we are; we really want to intercept them where they are," she says.>>
07/20/10 11:00 am ET
BlackBerrys, mobile apps and social media may be putting their mark on the federal workplace, but is being constantly connected always a good thing? >>
07/19/10 05:45 pm ET
I met last week with about 25 students from Cornell University who took part in the school's annual Summer in Washington program. Part of the work is to meet in a class setting every week to discuss the impact of the Internet on politics, business and the arts. Many work as interns at federal agencies.>>
07/16/10 08:46 am ET
The private sector is steps ahead of the federal government when it comes to overall job satisfaction as well as managing, training and rewarding employees, according to data from the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.>>
07/16/10 08:13 am ET
The battle is on for hard-to-find technology talent, and companies are paying top dollar for the most in-demand IT professionals. This month's edition of the Dice Report notes that this year's most in-demand jobs include software developers, C#, security analysts and engineers, database administrators and technology professionals with active federal security clearances. >>
07/15/10 12:45 pm ET
Starting salaries for computer science and computer engineering graduates have taken a bit of a hit this year but still remain significantly higher than starting salaries for other professions, InformationWeek reports. >>
07/15/10 11:23 am ET
The Homeland Security Department on Wednesday announced the winners of a contest designed to garner new ideas to improve the public's cybersecurity awareness and literacy. >>
07/14/10 04:48 pm ET
The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would make telework a statutory requirement for every federal agency.>>
07/14/10 01:16 pm ET
Federal workers age 25 and younger are generally more satisfied with their jobs, pay and benefits than workers in other age groups, according to data from the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.>>
07/13/10 08:37 am ET
Survey results released Monday give the first complete look at the number of federal employees participating in agency telework programs.>>
07/12/10 01:20 pm ET
I'm in the process of analyzing the results of the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, and you certainly can expect more posts, particularly on telework and the generation-specific results of the survey, in the days to come. But one thing from the survey struck me as a bit surprising: this year's survey did not ask how employees use information technology or how satisfied they are with IT systems to perform work. These questions have been asked of employees on past surveys, and I questioned back in February whether the new survey might make an even better attempt to gauge employee perceptions of agency IT programs and their ability to promote knowledge-sharing and collaboration.>>
07/12/10 01:01 pm ET
Federal employees overwhelmingly are satisfied with their jobs and believe the work they do is important, but many believe the government still has work to do when it comes to providing training opportunities and rewarding top performers, according to survey results released Monday by the Office of Personnel Management. >>
07/12/10 11:34 am ET
The Office of Personnel Management is looking to better recruit and retain the younger generation of workers by beefing up the Presidential Management Fellows program. In a letter to agency chief human capital officers, OPM Director John Berry said OPM is creating "power packs" - small teams of PMFS - to work on projects as part of the reinvigoration effort. >>
07/09/10 12:35 pm ET
Social media tools will continue to play an integral role in the lives of Millennials, even as they get older, start families and take on more responsibilities, new research suggests.>>
07/09/10 11:49 am ET
Establishing guidance and providing training to federal employees on new information technology systems and government 2.0 tools is one of the top challenges for agency chief executives, according to a new survey by the Government Business Council. >>
07/08/10 01:12 pm ET
The Internal Revenue Service has become the latest agency to launch a new job search tool on YouTube aimed at recruiting veterans and recent college graduates. The new playlist, "Working at the IRS," showcases videos in which IRS employees discuss their jobs, the diversity of the IRS workforce and the culture of the agency. The YouTube effort coincides with the launch the IRS Careers website, which has more detailed information on job openings, how to apply for positions and information on the benefits of working at the IRS. >>
07/07/10 12:12 pm ET
A new study by the Heritage Foundation aims to point out that federal workers are paid 30 to 40 percent higher than their private sector counterparts. And this discrepancy is not justified because the federal government employs a more educated and skilled workforce, as many in government have claimed, the report states. >>
07/06/10 02:12 pm ET
The Next Generation of Government Summit is taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Arlington, Va., and while Wired Workplace is a few too many miles away to attend, I've been following the tweets and live blog posts from the summit. Word is that there's few, if any, feds over 40 years old at the conference, and it should come as no surprise that the overarching theme appears to be technology and open government. >>
07/02/10 12:23 pm ET
Republican lawmakers are targeting federal employee pensions this week as part of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor's YouCut program, an online contest designed to highlight government projects that Republican lawmakers think are wasteful. >>
07/02/10 11:17 am ET
I know this week's posts have been a little telework-heavy, but it's worth noting that the Office of Personnel Management is reminding agency chief human capital officers that telework is an option for workers who may be affected by the 2010 hurricane season and the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. According to a letter sent to agency CHCOs on Thursday, OPM encouraged agencies to include telework in its emergency preparedness planning and discuss plans with each telework employee in advance. All expectations should be included in the employee's telework agreement, OPM said.>>
07/01/10 12:31 pm ET
While establishing telework programs at federal agencies will no doubt help recruit the next generation of federal employees, it's also important that agencies do not "oversell" the benefit to federal applicants, two agency representatives said Thursday.>>
07/01/10 08:56 am ET
The federal government should set a goal of having at least 600,000 federal employees teleworking by 2014, according to a new report by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton. >>
